Commercial Fleet Sales Increase 9% in April

Sales of vehicles to commercial fleets from eight manufactures increased 9% to 67,458 in April as sales of trucks, vans, and SUVs powered an increase of 11.6% to 60,801, while and passenger car sales fell 10.2% to 6,657 units compared to a year ago, according to Automotive Fleet data.

For the year so far, sales to commercial fleets have increased 10.5% to 254,693. Truck-based sales have increased 11.3% to 220,690, and car sales have increased 5.3% to 33,036.

Sales to government fleets from five manufacturers were flat in April with a 0.3% gain to 25,007. Truck-based sales increased 2.5% to 20,634 and car sales fell 9.2% to 4,373. For the year, government sales have declined 6% to 82,057 for the month with truck sales decreasing 5.7% to 68,025 and car sales falling 7.5% to 14,032.

Daily rental sales from the nine manufacturers in April increased 7.2% to 150,741 units. Truck-based sales increased 31.2% to 92,083 units, while car sales declined 16.7% to 58,658 units. Year-to-date sales have increased 3.8% to 669,710 vehicles with a 12.1% decline in car sales to 275,637 and an 18.8% increase in truck-based sales to 394,073 units.

For all three segments, fleet sales in April increased 6.9% from a year ago to 243,206 units with a 19.8% gain in truck sales to 173,518 and an 15.7% decline in car sales to 69,688.

Year to date, the three fleet segments have increased 4.5% to 1 million. While truck-based sales have increased 13.4% to 682,788, car sales have fallen 10.4% to 323,362.